The Catholic Church Uses The Poor To Raise Funds

From MSN  news, quoted in part [1]:

VATICAN CITY—Every year, Catholics around the world donate tens of millions of dollars to the pope. Bishops exhort the faithful to support the weak and suffering through the pope’s main charitable appeal, called Peter’s Pence.

What the church doesn’t advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than more than €50 million annually, goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican’s own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent directly on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds.

...

Local church leaders echo the Vatican’s line when soliciting contributions. According to the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “The purpose of the Peter’s Pence Collection is to provide the Holy Father with the financial means to respond to those who are suffering as a result of war, oppression, natural disaster and disease.”


But for at least the past five years, only about 10% of the money collected—more than €50 million was raised in 2018—has gone directly to the sort of charitable causes featured in advertising for the collection, according to people familiar with the matter. Donations can also support charitable causes indirectly if the Vatican invests them and makes a profit.

...

The total assets of Peter’s Pence now total about €600 million, down from about €700 million early in the current pontificate, largely on account of unsuccessful investments, said the people familiar with the funds’ use.

Is that what the Catholic Church does, use the poor to raise funds to plug its deficits and pay sex scandal settlements?  Does the Catholic Church have any credibility left?

Catholics around the world ought to say out loud repeatedly to the many clerics of the Church, including Bergoglio, the three words [2] made famous by the 2019 TIME Magazine Person Of The Year [3] Greta Thunberg: How dare you! How dare you!


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vatican-uses-donations-for-the-poor-to-plug-its-budget-deficit/ar-AAK1fzd?ocid=spartandhp
[2] https://youtu.be/TMrtLsQbaok?t=26
[3] https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2019-greta-thunberg/

Rising Temperatures In The Arctic

USA Today  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

"Unprecedented" warming and "exceptionally low levels" of sea ice are bringing rapid, dramatic and disruptive changes to the Arctic, according to a new report released Tuesday[, December 10, 2019.] by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

...

The speed and trajectory of many of the changes sweeping the Arctic are "occurring faster than anticipated,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet, acting NOAA administrator.

HuffPost.com  filed a report on 2019 weather, quoted in part without hyperlink [2]:

...extreme temperatures have smashed records around the world this year, with parts of the Midwestern U.S. seeing the mercury drop as low as minus 38 degrees Fahrenheit as Australia endures triple-digit high temperatures, reigniting concerns about a changing planet.

...

“In a warming world, you’re still going to have unusually hot and unusually cold events happening in a particular part of the world,” Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather also told the AP. “Weather is not going away.” 

NASA  has this to say about global warming, quoted without hyperlink [3]:

Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.

But greenhouse gases are not necessarily bad.  Wikipedia  has this to say, quoted without references [4]:

Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F), rather than the present average of 15 °C (59 °F).

It could be an overabundance of greenhouse gases that is causing temperatures to rise.  The evidence shows that glaciers are melting in areas where there should be glaciers year round.  Nobody knows when this warming trend will end and what trajectories it will take before weather returns to what is considered normal.

This planet is not static.  Earth is continuously moving around in space.  Perhaps at times, like the present, it orbits slightly closer toward the sun and warms it, and at other times, it orbits slightly farther away from the sun and cools it.  Based on this speculation, the earth can therefore warm up or cool down, independent of greenhouse gases.

Today, many people are concerned because the earth's temperature is on an upward trend.

What if the opposite happens, when the earth's temperature cools continually?  Sea levels will begin dropping instead of rising while glaciers at the north and south poles will continue to form and gradually cover land that lies farther and farther away from the poles with thick layers of ice.

"At one point during the Ice Age, sheets of ice covered all of Antarctica, large parts of Europe, North America, and South America, and small areas in Asia. In North America they stretched over Greenland and Canada and parts of the northern United States. The remains of glaciers of the Ice Age can still be seen in parts of the world, including Greenland and Antarctica." [5]

If humanity can have either global warming or global cooling, which will it choose?

Perhaps it would choose neither, preferring instead to return to the Garden of Eden where everything is perfect.  Is that even possible?

Anything is possible with God.  After all, it is God Who created the universe.  When God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven, earth will once again be the Garden of Eden.


[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/10/arctic-report-card-temperatures-rise-sea-ice-melts-exceptionally-low-level/4385182002/
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/extreme-weather-2019_n_5c51ba5ce4b00906b26f9360
[3] https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas
[5] https://www.livescience.com/40311-pleistocene-epoch.html

Vatican's Finances Becoming More And More Intriguing

Catholic News Agency  reported as follows, quoted in part [1]:

[Centurion Global Fund is a] fund in which the Vatican’s Secretariat of State has invested tens of millions of euros has links to two Swiss banks investigated or implicated in bribery and money laundering scandals involving more than one billion dollars....

[The fund] used the Vatican assets under its management to invest in Hollywood films, real estate, and utilities, including investments in movies like “Men in Black International” and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman.”

It is difficult to rank which is more embarrassing for the Catholic Church, the fact that the Vatican is entangled in a fund "connected to several institutions linked to allegations of money laundering" [2] or the fact that the fund it invested in, in turn invested in the making of Rocketman, a movie that has "a brief display of two headless men in the missionary position." [3]

Quoting in part from the Catechism of the Catholic Church  without references [4]:

Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Ironically, the gay sex scene, although not approved by the Vatican, was supported by Vatican funds.

Gay sex cannot be entirely foreign to the Catholic Church since many clerics are gay and some of whom have more likely than not had engaged in homosexual sex repeatedly despite being classified as "acts of grave depravity."

Vatican's connections to money-laundering schemes and illicit sex should be enough material for a best-selling book, to be made into a movie.  If the movie can perform as well as The Da Vinci Code, then the net profit from the movie's revenue ought to offset some the Vatican's the bad investment decisions.  Quoted below are the figures for The Da Vinci Code [5]:

Theatrical Performance

[US] Domestic Box Office      $217,536,138

International Box Office         $550,284,321

Worldwide Box Office             $767,820,459 or  €693,902,590.72 [6]

Home Market Performance

Est. [US] Domestic DVD Sales $100,214,843

Total Est. Domestic Video Sales $100,214,843

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-investments-linked-to-global-money-laundering-investigations-91401
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.them.us/story/rocketman-sex-scene
[4] https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm, at section 2357.
[5] https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Da-Vinci-Code-The#tab=video-sales
[6] from xe.com, based on live market rea

Feast Of The Immaculate Conception - December 8, 2019

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  This is a quick reflection on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Who unlike Eve, never succumbed to the temptations of Satan.

Unlike the rest of humanity, except Her Son, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary Who was told by God's angel that She was "full of grace" [1] was never tainted with Original Sin and therefore never experienced guilt.

Both Eve and Adam felt guilty for the first time and hid themselves only after they ate the Forbidden Fruit that stained them with Original Sin. [2]

Guilt is defined as "the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability. [3]

Is it even possible to imagine living one's life without any deviation from God's Will, in God's Truth, completely free of guilt and self-deception?


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A26-28&version=DRA
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A+8-13&version=KJV
[3] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/guilt

A Report: The Worst Floods - A Look Back

There are 29 photographs in this report showing floods around the world [1] except for the biblical flood that lasted 40 days during Noah's time. [2]  The first photograph of a flood dated back to 1900.  Floods are not new.  What can be blamed on these floods?  Referring to the last entry in this blog, according to Bergoglio, could man have done something to prevent them?

Not that weather patterns and the melting of glaciers in present days are not in any way connected to an explosion of human population.  "The lungs bring oxygen into the body when breathing in and send carbon dioxide out of the body when breathing out. Carbon dioxide is a waste gas produced by the cells of the body." [3]  "Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping (greenhouse) gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, as well as natural processes such as respiration and volcanic eruptions." [4]


Going back to the last post, quoting Bergoglio [5]:

Today’s meeting offers me the opportunity to renew my encouragement to your people, who last year suffered a devastating natural disaster, with the destruction of entire wooded areas. These are events that alarm us, they are warning signs that creation sends us, and that ask us to take effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home.

When carrying out Bergoglio's recommendation to have people make "effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home," does that mean people ought to cut down the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the air by not breathing starting "immediately"?

When everyone is dead, including Bergoglio, from asphyxiation, then for certain "the common home" will be saved but nobody will be occupying it.  It is a quick fix for all social, political and environmental problems and a very effective one at that.


[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-worlds-worst-floods/ss-BBXLDmL?ocid=spartandhp#image=6
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A9-9%3A17&version=NIV
[3] https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/how-lungs-work
[4] https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/
[5] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

An Act Of God Or Acts Of Human?

Quoted below is part of Bergoglio's address to "the delegations from Trentino and Veneto for the donation of the Christmas tree and the Nativity display in Saint Peter’s Square" [1]:

I am pleased to welcome you on the day on which the Nativity display and the Christmas tree, set up in Saint Peter’s Square, are presented, bound together by the common memory of the storm last autumn that devastated many areas of the Triveneto.

Here comes the political parts that Bergoglio relishes [2]:

The Nativity display, made almost entirely of wood and composed of architectural elements characteristic of the Trentino tradition, will help visitors to enjoy the spiritual richness of the Nativity of the Lord. The wooden trunks from the areas affected by the storms, which serve as a backdrop to the landscape, underline the precariousness in which the Holy Family found itself on that night in Bethlehem. The artistic nativity scene of Conegliano, located in the Paul VI Hall, will also help us to contemplate the humble grotto where the Saviour was born.

Mr. "Holy Father Bergoglio," was Christ born in a "humble grotto" and not in a stable?   Grotto is defined as "a cave or cavern," or an "artificial cavernlike recess or structure." [3]

Why is it necessary to draw a parallel between a periodical storm and the night when Christ was born?  There is nothing precarious about being born in a stable, and being placed in a manger.  It was God's plan.  Did Bergoglio want to have something "less precarious" for the Holy Family the night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born?  Was he criticizing God indirectly for putting the Holy Family in what Bergoglio deemed to be a "precarious" state?

Fr. Thom Hennen wrote that a "'manger' is in fact the feeding trough in which the hay for the animals would have been placed." [4]  More from Fr. Hennen [5]:

Reflecting further on what the manger means, it is also an image of self-sacrificial service, which flows naturally from humility. The manger is a feed bin, a place for food. Christ came to be our food, to give of himself for our nourishment. And so, it is only fitting that he should be laid in a feeding trough. This becomes even more meaningful when we recall that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a name that means “house of bread,” and when we recall his words from the famous Bread of Life Discourse of John’s Gospel: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51). In the same way, those who are called to lives of self-sacrificial service within the Church are called to be food for others.

Back to Bergoglio's address [6]:

Today’s meeting offers me the opportunity to renew my encouragement to your people, who last year suffered a devastating natural disaster, with the destruction of entire wooded areas. These are events that alarm us, they are warning signs that creation sends us, and that ask us to take effective decisions immediately for the protection of our common home.

Are such events "warning signs"?  Can people make "effective decisions" to protect themselves "immediately" against such events?  Bergoglio never followed-up with any of his own effective decisions to protect the "common home," and his boss is God.

Are wildfires [7], too, warning signs sent by "creation" that people can make decisions to avoid and not collectively an Act of God?   Bergoglio ought to read what is quoted below [8] and the rest of it:

A blazing inferno is moving quickly in your direction. You feel the intense heat and the air is clogged with smoke. Deer, snakes, and birds flee past you, even the insects attempt to escape. You would run too if you could, but unfortunately, you are a plant. The fire begins to lick at your leaves and you wait... While no one likes the sight of a burned forest, fire is important for the functioning of a number of ecosystems and many plants are specially adapted to these fire-prone habitats. Read on to discover some of the amazing ways plants survive—and even thrive—in the face of wildfire.


Perhaps the most amazing fire adaptation is that some species actually require fire for their seeds to sprout. Some plants, such as the lodgepole pine, Eucalyptus, and Banksia, have serotinous cones or fruits that are completely sealed with resin. These cones/fruits can only open to release their seeds after the heat of a fire has physically melted the resin. Other species, including a number of shrubs and annual plants, require the chemical signals from smoke and charred plant matter to break seed dormancy. Some of these plants will only sprout in the presence of such chemicals and can remain buried in the soil seed bank for decades until a wildfire awakens them. [Emphasis  added.]

Hopefully by reading what some of the things Creation can bring about, Bergoglio just might begin to believe that there is a living God, not a "god" that he can use for his political expediencies.

He might as well read this also, quoted without references, Philippians 3:18-19 [9]:

For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ

Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.

[1] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/grotto

[4] http://www.catholicmessenger.net/2011/12/manger-symbolizes-self-sacrificial-service-humility/

[5] Ibid.

[6] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/05/191205c.html

[7] https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/wildfire.htm

[8] https://www.britannica.com/list/5-amazing-adaptations-of-pyrophytic-plants

[9] http://www.usccb.org/bible/philippians/3, 18 - 19.

State Law Above Church Law in China

AsiaNew.it  reported as follows on December 2, 2019, quoted in part without the bold font [1]:

"Love for the homeland must be greater than the love for the Church and the law of the country is above Canon law," declared Msgr. Fang Xingyao to the Political Consultative Conference on Religions held last November 26 in the capital.

This is not recent news.  Just over two years ago, on November 14, 2017,  smpc.com  reported as follows, quoted in part [2]:

Thousands of Christians in an impoverished county in rural southeast China have swapped their posters of Jesus for portraits of President Xi Jinping as part of a local government poverty-relief programme that seeks to “transform believers in religion into believers in the party”.

Located on the edge of Poyang, China’s largest freshwater lake, Yugan county in Jiangxi province is known equally for its poverty and its large Christian community. More than 11 per cent of its 1 million residents live below the country’s official poverty line, while nearly 10 per cent of its population is Christian, according to official data.

...

Qi Yan, chairman of the Huangjinbu people’s congress and the person in charge of the township’s poverty-relief drive, said the campaign had been running across the county since March. He said it focused on teaching Christian families how much the party had done to help eradicate poverty and how much concern Xi had shown for their well-being.

...

A resident of another township in Yugan, surnamed Liu, said that in recent months many of his fellow villagers had been told to remove religious artefacts from their homes.

“Some families put up gospel couplets on their front doors during the Lunar New Year, some also hang paintings of the cross. But they’ve all been torn down,” he said.

Many believers did not do so voluntarily, Liu said.

“They all have their belief and, of course, they didn’t want to take them down. But there is no way out. If they don’t agree to do so, they won’t be given their quota from the poverty-relief fund,” he said.

But Qi dismissed claims that the funds were contingent on the religious posters being removed.

“We only asked them to take down [religious] posters in the centre of the home. They can still hang them in other rooms, we won’t interfere with that. What we require is for them not to forget about the party’s kindness at the centre of their living rooms.”

It was not an either-or situation, Qi said.

In China, it is Chinese Socialism not Roman Catholicism (Christianity and religions in general) that is the answer to poverty and it is China's State Law that has supremacy over Vatican's Canon Law.


[1] http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bishop-Fang-Xingyao:-The-homeland-before-the-Church;-Chinese-law-before-Canon-law-48702.html
[2] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2119699/praise-xi-jinping-not-jesus-escape-poverty-christian